Since 1994, Dan Crews’ Eastern Homecoming tradition has centered on bean soup.

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Crews, the director of patron services at the Doudna Fine Arts Center, will be setting up a tent behind O’Brien Field and warming up his kettle to roast his beans as a part of the 18th annual “Tent City” tailgate before the football game.

Along with the soup, they serve cornbread and the “fix’ins” for the soup such as onion, cheese and ketchup.

“We wanted to do something different—it looks horrible, but it really is delicious,” Crews said. “Over the years, we have thought ‘Why don’t we shake it up?’ but decided against it—people look forward to it every year, so why remake the wheel?”

Crews said the tent represents all of the departments that fall under the college and is a place for alumni, faculty and current students to connect.

“We’re not trying to sell them anything,” he said. “It is just a gathering place for people to connect and hang out with old friends.”

Although all six academic colleges will be represented in “Tent City,” not all of them do the same thing for its tent.

Jonathan McKenzie, the assistant to the dean for college communication in the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, said they will be giving away reusable grocery bags at his tent.

He said they will have a table within the tent and applied sciences will have a wind turbine at its table.

However, the tent is just one part of how they celebrate Homecoming.

“We have our annual Homecoming breakfast from 8 to 9 a.m. and will be doing something to honor one of our alumni who are receiving one of the alumni awards from the alumni association,” McKenzie said. “The family and consumer sciences department is celebrating their 100th year, so they will be doing a float in the parade as well.”

Besides the academic colleges, the graduate school and the housing and dining departments will also be having tents in “Tent City.” Each will have different types of food, including, hot dogs, hamburgers and chili.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.